A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday acquitted the first accused who had been convicted by a CBI special court in a case relating to the mysterious disappearance of Chekannr Moulavi, a progressive Islamic cleric.
The Bench of Justice A.M. Shaffique and Justice P.D. Somarajan set aside the conviction and sentence awarded to the first accused, V.V. Hamsa of Alancode, on the ground that the CBI had failed to prove the murder charges against him.
There was no proof that the moulavi had died. It was assumed that he was dead since he had not come back after going to Kozhikode on July 29, 1993.
The Bench passed the verdict on an appeal filed by the first accused seeking to quash the order of the Ernakulam CBI special court awarding him double life sentence and a fine of ₹1 lakh. The special court had convicted him of murder and criminal conspiracy charges. According to the CBI chargesheet, a criminal conspiracy was hatched at Markaz Arts College, Karanthur, under the leadership of Usman Musaliyar, ninth accused (later acquitted by the court), to eliminate the moulavi on the premise that he was acting against Islam.
The accused had abducted the moulavi and murdered him. Later the body was disposed of in some mysterious manner so that it would never be recovered.
Two witnesses’ take
The Bench said the only evidence that could link the accused to the murder was that of the two witnesses who had seen the first accused coming to the moulavi’s house and taking him from there. Though the last seen theory was a strong piece of evidence against an accused, it would be safer for the court to look for corroboration, especially in instances where there was a time lag between the occurrence of death and when the accused was last seen in the company of the deceased.
The Bench observed that if there was evidence to prove his death immediately after being taken in a jeep, an explanation from the accused would have been necessary.
But there was no such evidence. There was no material to prove that the moulavi had died and there were circumstances to implicate the accused in the crime. The court also dismissed an appeal challenging the acquittal of Muhammed Basheer, fourth accused in the case.
